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ketchup chips
DCHP-3 (Apr 2023)
n. — Food
ketchup-flavoured potato chips (see Image 1).
Type: 1. Origin — Ketchup chips were probably invented in the 1970s by then-Canadian potato chip company Hostess, which merged with American potato chip company Lay's (owned by Pepsi-Co) in 1988. Following the opposite trajectory to that of Hawkins Cheezies, which were created in the US and subsequently popularized in Canada, Hostess ketchup chips were a Canadian creation whose makers were eventually bought out by a larger American company. Like Hawkins Cheezies, however, Lay's ketchup chips remain an iconic Canadian food item (see Image 1 and the first 2004 quotation), often featuring in lists of foods representing Canada.
Inside mainstream Canadian culture, ketchup chips are associated with children and the young-at-heart due to their sweet flavour (see the 1995, the second 2004, the 2017 and the 2023 quotations).
Chart 1 shows that ketchup chips is most frequent in Canada.
Inside mainstream Canadian culture, ketchup chips are associated with children and the young-at-heart due to their sweet flavour (see the 1995, the second 2004, the 2017 and the 2023 quotations).
Chart 1 shows that ketchup chips is most frequent in Canada.
See: Cheezies
Quotations
1995
He bided his time at the airport eating ketchup chips and playing with his pal Lucas Downie, 9, one of the other kids stranded at Pearson.
2004
Will the American in sheep's clothing know to wait politely in the lineup at the burger joint and not to appear too puzzled when offered ketchup chips or vinegar on his or her fries?
2016
It was finally time to dump my ketchup chips and grab my gym clothes; I was going to train like a frontline service member.
2017
I grew up in the 1980s in Canada, a country that takes its wack-job salty snack foods seriously. Few of these are more revered than ketchup chips. For a while in my early teen years you could determine my age from the blood-red rings of ketchup seasoning that permeated deep into my fingers and palms.
2023
"I grew up on ketchup chips, roti and Jamaican beef patties," he told the crowd at Toronto's Budweiser Stage.
"By the way, it's pronounced ‘bubble tea,’ not ‘boba'," he jested.
Liu also used the bit as an opportunity to get a little more political, reciting: "Canada is a place where the government is also our drug dealer; and we're into snowboarding not waterboarding; and where a woman always has the right to choose."
Images
Image 1: Twitter user in their enthusiasm for ketchup chips, 2 April 2023.
